THE “FAMILY 500+” PROGRAMME: POTENTIAL IMPACT ON DEMOGRAPHIC PROCESSES, THE LABOUR MARKET AND PENSION SYSTEM

The “500+ Fam­ily” programme, which runs from mid-2016, is the opening of a new chapter in Polish family policy. It is the response of the government to the demographic crisis caused by the mass emigration of young people and the low birth rate, which is due to the rapidly increasing number of people in retirement age, resulting in aging society. The main objective of the program is to create conditions conducive to having and raising children, resulting in a reversal of the unfavourable demographic trend to increase the fertility rate. The program is also an investment in human capital and reduction of poverty among families with children. The assumed population growth and the transformation of the family model depends on changes in the workplace, which are primarily the responsibility of women. The barriers to participation of women in the labour market, such as the lack of flexibility in working time, inequality in earnings, the inability to reconcile work and family responsibilities, and the fear of professional inactivity. This deprives them of both the independence as well as the ability to selffulfilment or loss of previous competences. The consequence of this will be the loss of the right to a fair oldage pension as a result of the non-payment of insurance premiums for future retirement. The introduction of the 500 Plus program causes of necessity of changes in the economic and social policies of the state.